More than meats the pie

CHOICE names the meatiest healthiest and tastiest meat pies

No food is more Australian than the meat pie. We spend over $127 million buying them and eat over 18,500 tonnes of them every year.

So which are the best? CHOICE tested 20 meat pies available to consumers in supermarkets around the country to see which was the most nutritious, the meatiest, and the tastiest.

“We covered most of the national brands stocked in the frozen section of the supermarket,” says Christopher Zinn, CHOICE spokesperson.

“Scoring well on all three criteria, the Elmsbury (Aldi) Bakehouse Premium Grain Fed Beef Pie was the overall winner. It had good meat content, was comparatively lower in fat and sodium, and tasted good. While not the cheapest pie we tested, it does offer value for money as a premium pie that’s nutritionally better than others on the market,” says Mr Zinn.

Herbert Adams King Island Gourmet Premium Beef Pies have 38.5% meat, taking out first place for the meatiest pie. To qualify for the name ‘meat pie’, a pie has to contain 25% ‘meat flesh’ as defined by the Food Standards Code. When CHOICE conducted its last meat pie test in 2006, four of the contenders failed to meet even this modest mark. This time around, all but one earnt the title ‘meat pie’. You’ll Love Coles was marginally below par with 22.7% meat. Overall, CHOICE commends manufacturers for lifting their game.

Four’N Twenty takes out tastiest meat pie in a fairly ho-hum field, followed closely by Black & Gold. When it came to taste, our testers were none too pleased, complaining about doughy pastry, pie cases that break apart, too much gravy and too much salt. And 80% of taste testers positively disliked the filling in the Coles Smart Buy pies, making them not such a smart buy at all.

But as one panelist said: “meat pies are a snack that needs sauce”.

“If it takes a fair shake of the sauce bottle to make your pie edible, then perhaps you should be eating something else. Meat pies are OK as an occasional meal but there are many healthier, and tastier options,” says Mr Zinn.

Few of us expect a meat pie to be healthy. The Four and Twenty Lite pie carries the Heart Foundation Tick and, with the lowest kilojoule content and total fat content, it lives up to it’s name.Take a look at our recipe for a tasty homemade meat pie that we guarantee has a decent amount of real meat.

We reveal which brands and chains offer the healthiest and tastiest options.

15 Mar 2010
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CHOICE compared more than 190 brands and flavours of pizza available nationally from supermarkets (chilled or frozen) or from takeaway chains. We found some big differences in nutritional value – and in value for money.